E. H. (Pete) Crawford

Not much to say except that Pete, Kyle's dad, was a wonderful person. He died peacefully tonight a little after 11 PM at the hospital in Winder with his wife Freta and other family with him. I ask you to join with me in thoughts and prayers for his family.

A little distracted...

My husband has finally posted on his blog, that which has been hanging over his head and our heads here in Mendon. I hope that means it's OK for me to follow up.

Kyle's dad, Pete has been in the ICU for more than week. Kyle does not want to further burden his mother and she is the source of info. As far as we know, Pete had some scar tissue removed from a previous lung cancer operation, he had pneumonia and when they brought him up from sedation his heart rate was rapid.

You can read his blog at: http://kylecrawford.blogspot.com/2010/03/kyle-honesty.html

As he says we don't have bad news or good news... we are just on hold and a long way from Winder, GA.

Sometimes ignorance will get you far...

Kathy may have Kyle's Pen

Watching carefully I noticed Kathy Griffin ask Dan Choi for a pen... It looked familiar.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

The official St. Patty's day card from The Episcopal Church....

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Husband and Husband

Here's a young man who was being taped during a party with the new camcorder. What is captured is a the charming innocence when he discovers how the word "husband" applies in his family.

David Norgard at Virginia Theological Seminary

The President of Integrity, David Norgard, was asked to speak this evening at Virginia Theological Seminary. He has been preparing with great dedication and joy for this opportunity. Asked to speak on the future of Inclusion in the Episcopal Church his full remarks will no doubt be available soon.

One of the issues that he addresses is what LGBT people can bring to the Church. Now that our legislative body has moved us forward into inclusion, many of us worry that we may have finally been accepted into an institution which has little relevance for upcoming generations. David addresses this straight on and with hope.

I believe we are necessarily yet nonetheless sincerely at last beginning to see ourselves not first and foremost as an institution to which people, if they have enough sense, will just join naturally. In our most vital congregations anyway, I see evidence of a very different self-understanding. Instead of institutions bound by law and dedicated to self-perpetuation, they see themselves as communities bound by love and dedicated to purposes beyond themselves. This also resonates with LGBT persons in my experience for it mirrors the story of LGBT families and communities. No social conventions have brought us together, let me assure you. It has been nothing other than the soulful desire to belong to a family of choice and a community of choice that allows us not only to be ourselves but also to be there for the other.

If we continue along these lines, I believe there is hope not just for the future of inclusion but for the future of our church over all. We will be a community whose appeal to all sorts and conditions of folk is neither a passing fad nor an artifice of political strategy but rather the natural further expression of a catholicity that stretches all the way back to the coming together of Jew and Greek.

Friends, in the first few years after the advent of the Ordination of women, I recall a question arising frequently in conversation: Do you believe in women’s Ordination? It was almost like out of the Baptismal Covenant. Whether it was intended to elicit an affirmation or a renunciation, you couldn’t always be sure. In either case, the most memorable response I ever heard came from a very sincere if somewhat naïve man who said, “Do I believe in them? I have seen them!”

As openly gay and lesbian people become a common and unremarkable aspect of the cultural landscape, I do believe that more bishops will ordain LGBT persons, more vestries will elect them to serve as rectors, more congregations will elect them to vestries, and most importantly of course, Altar Guilds won’t wince at the need to set up a wedding for two grooms or two brides. We are past the turning point. We have crossed the tipping point and the forecast is bright.

There will be resistance. The impulse to respond eagerly and faithfully to the emerging realities of each succeeding age is always met with the opposing impulse to preserve and hold fast to what has been familiar and comfortable. But as I see it, it’s not a matter of acquiescing to a more inclusive future for the sake of those who have been on the outside. It is rather a matter of embracing opportunities that give us all a future as a community – a community of mystery and reason, of determined commitment and unconditional love.

Cute Air Traffic Control

Who doesn't know how to fasten a seat belt? Who seriously pays attention when the flight attendance show you how at least 4 times during every round trip lately?

When a little humor is injected into the tedium it makes me feel more relaxed. I have had flight attendants that get the message across with humor. The boarding attendant at Washington National 35 is a scream. "It's a long walk to Buffalo if you don't get on that plane."

When I heard that an air traffic controller brought his kid to work, I wondered what all the fuss was about. "The most aggregious breach of conduct," said the Secretary of Transportation. Then I heard the tape.

Now I am not one to think that kids pretending to be adults is "cute." I'm not a "cute" kind of guy... but this was cute. It was obvious that the dad had everything in control and the pilots thought is was fine.

So what's the big deal.

The Roman Catholic Church and Jesus

I absolutely defend the right of any faith community to hold a position that it's followers support. I absolutely reserve the right to comment on that action.

Catholic Charities in DC has made two decisions to change their operation and policy based on the act the Same-Sex marriage is now legal in the district. The will stop placing children in any adoption because they would be forced to place them with same-sex married couples. They will stop offering any spousal benefits to new employees because they would be forced to offer them to same sex couples.

There are so many ways in which this type is incompatible with the overarching message of scripture and especially the life of Jesus Christ that it has sparked many theologians write many brilliant books. The story of the good Samaritan seems to be particularly appropriate for an organization that calls itself "Catholic Charities," not "The Keeper of Catholic Dogma"

Who are the victims in this action?

I know many, many good and faithful Roman Catholics who are as appalled as I am about this. The have held themselves accountable to the Church in their lives.

When I see this type of action I wonder only how they hold their church accountable to Jesus?



Art: The Good Samaritan by Stephen Sawyer from PicturesofJesus4you.com

Wilfred Owen:

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young Boy

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son. . . .
And half the Sons of Europe, one by one.

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Party